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Opinion: Columnists

Bob Greenlee: Will CU survive future political turbulence?

By Bob Greenlee

Posted:
09/19/2016 07:30:30 PM MDT

Bob Greenlee

There was a curious if not disturbing article recently in a weekly publication that's circulated in the Boulder area. It featured a photo-shopped picture of CU President Bruce Benson in a Superman's cape with the headline: "Bruce Benson is one brave guy."

This anonymous, negative, and sarcastic article accuses CU President Benson of being nothing more than "...an oil and gas 'gazillionaire' and Republican Party political operative." Benson's politics have long been a contentious matter for many university and community leftists who appear to have no tolerance for anyone's political options other than their own. This certainly includes a large number of academic types whose political views are well understood and who detest and are vocal about non-academics being in positions of authority. Only around 6 percent of the CU faculty identify themselves as being affiliated with the more conservative political party. When Benson was hired, however, he gave the CU Board of Regents a written pledge to never engage in partisan politics — a pledge he has scrupulously adhered to.

Benson's current transgression, according to the article, is not just being a Republican but having received the Colorado-based Steamboat Institute's Courage in Education Award. The institute's mission is to "educate the public on the founding principles of the United States and inspire people to be actively involved in their implementation." It's easy to understand why certain academic types might be skeptical of him because individuals who come from a background of private-sector accomplishment are routinely feared or even labeled as fanatical by the political left and are rarely given the honor of serving as president of a major university.

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It would be difficult for anyone to deny that Benson has been a strong and accomplished leader for CU over the past eight years and is the longest-serving CU president in the past 60 years. Among other things he managed to steer CU through the worst economic recession our nation has suffered in nearly a century. Today, CU appears both fiscally sound and academically well positioned for the future. One reason is that Benson instituted better business practices at CU and made a number of strategic reforms that resulted in bureaucratic streamlining while discovering ways to increase revenues that support academic excellence. The CU Foundation recently reported that for the seventh consecutive year the university has set another fund-raising record with total private donations reaching $384.5 million.

Today CU receives less than 6 percent of its $3.8 billion annual budget from the state of Colorado and currently ranks 48th nationally in state funding for higher education. Like so many other public universities CU isn't entirely "state supported" any longer but rather more "state identified" than anything else. Even so, tuition increases have been modest and currently track inflationary pressures that have averaged about 3.5 percent per annum. The university also recently introduced an innovative guaranteed tuition rate that locks in tuition over four years, allowing students and their parents to know and better understand what a four-year degree will ultimately cost.

The fact that Bruce Benson has an "R" rather than a "D" after his name has had no negative impacts while dealing with a politically charged Colorado legislature. Had he been viewed simply for his political affiliation, he would probably not have been able to achieve most if not all of his worthy accomplishments. One such legislative victory, for example, removed international students from non-residential caps, resulting in $80 million of revenue and helping provide for campus diversity.

Unfortunately this is a year of political upheaval both nationally and locally. A shift to the left appears to be making headway and might present an opportunity for liberals and academic types who have opposed Benson from the very beginning of his tenure to unseat him. There's a target on Benson's back but CU would do well to ride on Superman's cape for as long as he's been so effective and up to the job.

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